TWU Local100 Blasts MTA's Proposed Service Cuts

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19 -- TWU Local 100 is blasting – and vowing to fight – MTA plans to cut subway service on Mondays and Fridays.

“This is a terrible idea and should be rejected outright,” TWU Local 100 President Richard Davis said. “We’re going to fight this every step of the way.”

NYC Transit President Richard Davey today announced that the MTA plans on cutting weekday subway service on Mondays and Fridays because ridership is lighter on those days. Riders’ waits on platforms for trains will increase by as much as 30 seconds and as little as three seconds, he said. The affected lines are: 1,6,7,E,F,L,Q. He called it a “service adjustment” that would go into effect in June.

“I don’t care what the MTA calls this,” Davis said. “This is a service cut for everyone who rides the subway on Mondays and Fridays. There will be fewer trains making fewer trips. Riders will wait longer on platforms. It will take longer for them to reach their destinations. No amount of spin will change that.”

Davis said longer waits could mean increased rider frustration, and more assaults on transit workers. 

For Davis’s full statement, click here.

RTO Vice President Canella Gomez also blasted the idea of cutting service, appearing at the NYC Transit Committee meeting along with TWU International President John Samuelsen, who is also an MTA Board Member. They were accompanied by rank and file Subway Conductors and Train Operators.

“Construction workers, restaurant workers, healthcare providers, teachers, grocery store workers, transit workers, and the list goes on and on, all will be adversely affected by service cuts – because they can’t work from home, just like I can’t work from home, just like my co-workers can’t work from home,” he said. Watch the video above.